This section provides background information related to the present disclosure, which is not necessarily prior art.
Vehicles typically include a meter assembly arranged at an instrument panel of the vehicle. The meter assembly displays information to a driver of the vehicle that is relevant to vehicle operation. For example, the meter assembly will typically include speed of the vehicle, engine speed, engine temperature, etc.
Meter assemblies typically include a plurality of plates coupled together. The plates often include a circuit board with light emitting elements, which illuminate indicators of a dial plate. Arranged between the dial plate and the circuit board is a reflector case including a plurality of light guides, which are often referred to as “chimneys.” The light guides guide light from the light emitting elements to the indicators of the dial plate. Arranged between the reflector case and the circuit board is a main case, which includes a plurality of holes. Each one of the light guides is aligned with a different one of the holes of the main case. The light guides extend towards, but do not contact, the main case. Thus gaps are defined between the light guides in the main case. With current assemblies, all of the light guides have the same length. As a result, light passing through one of the holes of the main case may leak through the gaps into one or more light guides adjacent to the light guide aligned with the hole. Thus illumination of a single light emitting element of a circuit board may unintentionally result in illumination of more than one of the indicators of the dial plate, which can make it difficult to determine which one of the indicators was intended for illumination. The present teachings advantageously provide for a meter assembly that eliminates light leak from one light guide to another, and reduces tooling costs associated with forming the light guides. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the present teachings provide numerous additional advantages.